Top Stories
Director Fauzi Mantoura Honoured in Paris for Achievements in Oceanography
Fauzi C. Mantoura, Director of the Agency’s Marine Laboratories in Monaco, was recently honoured by the Société de Géographie in Paris with the Grand Prix des Sciences de la Mer - Albert 1er de Monaco.
In presenting the award for achievements in the marine sciences, President of the Société Jan Bastié cited Dr. Mantoura’s research and publications studying ocean carbon cycles, tracers and novel analytical methods.
In honour of Dr. Mantoura, His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco hosted a ceremony at the Palais Princier (see photo).
The IAEA’s 51st General Conference
The IAEA’s 51st General Conference will take place from 17-21 September. Several thousand people will attend this annual gathering as full delegations from the Agency’s Member States come
together to discuss, plan, and authorize the Agency’s activities for the coming year. The Conference gives the Agency’s departments the opportunity to showcase their programmes and accomplishments,
and the Nuclear Sciences and Applications Department will have displays and staff members available to highlight those activities and to answer questions.
Inauguration of New IAEA Collaborating Centre in Costa Rica
On 16 July, the Centro de Investigación en Contaminación Ambiental (CICA) of the University of Costa Rica was inaugurated as an IAEA Collaborating Centre for eLearning and Accelerated Capacity
Building for Food and Environmental Protection (EACB). CICA was designated as the lead institution, or Collaborating Centre, acting on behalf of the Advanced Radiation Technology Institute (ARTI)
of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Food Science and Technology Programme (FST) of the National University of Singapore.
In the initial three year trial period (2006-2009), the EACB Collaborating Centre will consult with the Agency within their specific areas of expertise in four major areas related to food safety
and environmental protection, including, the implementation of Agency capacity building activities; the development, evaluation and application of new technologies; the enhancement of information
collection and dissemination; and, the development of eLearning courses.
Advanced Nuclear Medicine Laboratory Launched in Seibersdorf
A new Gamma Camera
Laboratory has been established at the IAEA’s laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria, bringing some of the most advanced Nuclear medicine technology to the Agency.
Mr. Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications,
and Ms. Gabriele Voigt, Director of the IAEA’s Laboratories, inaugurated a new Gamma Camera Laboratory
on 17 May at the Agency’s laboratory facilities in Seibersdorf. Using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), this machine enables three-dimensional imaging of body organs and
their function, and it thereby serves as a critical tool in the diagnostic capabilities of nuclear medicine.
The Gamma Camera Laboratory will be used to train Member State experts in operation, calibration,
quality control and assurance, and preventive maintenance.
Read more »
PACT and Oxford University hold “Cancer Control in Africa” meeting
At a meeting co-hosted
in London on 10 - 11 May by the Programme for Action in Cancer Therapy (PACT) and Oxford University’s Africa-Oxford Cancer Consortium (AfrOx), leading cancer experts and policy-makers voiced
support for an action plan designed to tackle Africa’s growing cancer crisis. The London Declaration on Cancer Control in Africa that was adopted at forum builds on two earlier documents
- the Cape Town Declaration on Cancer Control in Africa (IAEA, December 2006) and the World Cancer Declaration (UICC, July 2006) – in setting out essential elements for comprehensive
cancer control programmes. Read more in the PACT website »
ANSTO inaugurated as new IAEA Collaborating Centre
On 20 April, Deputy Director General and Nuclear Sciences and Applications Department
Head Werner Burkart joined Australian Prime Minister John Howard in attending the opening ceremony for Australia’s A$380 million 
OPAL research reactor in Sydney, which simultaneously saw the inauguration of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) as a new IAEA Collaborating Centre.
In his address, Mr. Burkart remarked, “This is an auspicious occasion for Australia and ANSTO, and marks the start of a new generation of world class research from a world class facility.”
Click here for the full text of Mr. Burkart’s statement.
International Conference on Environmental Radioactivity hosted by IAEA
The Nuclear Sciences and Applications
Department and the Nuclear Safety & Security Department co-hosted the International Conference on Environmental Radioactivity in Vienna on 23 - 27 April, in cooperation with the United Nations Committee
on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, the South Pacific Environmental Radioactivity Association, the National Food Investigation Institute of Hungary, and the Belgian Nuclear Research Center.
The purpose of the conference was to foster information exchange between professionals working in the broad range of disciplines associated with environmental radioactivity from sampling design to regulation, with
the goal of strengthening the links between research and policy making in this field.
Full information on the meeting and opening statement from DDG-NA Mr. Burkart.
IAEA Collaborating Centre inaugurated in Syria
The inauguration of the Atomic Energy Agency of Syria
as a Collaborative Center with the IAEA took place
in Damascus on 23 March 2007. Ms. Gabi Voigt, Director of the Agency’s Seibersdorf Laboratories, hands the IAEA plaque to AECS Deputy Director General Professor Dr. R. Al-Masri in recognition of upcoming collaboration regarding the production of reference materials and the terrestrial radioecology
of naturally occurring radionuclides.
Visit by USA Senator Lugar to the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory in Seibersdorf
On November 29th, Senator Lugar (Chairman of the USA Senate Foreign Relations Committee) visited the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory (SAL) in Seibersdorf with other interested members of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
As part of his visiting programme with the IAEA and discussions on the implementation of Safeguards, he visited SAL and was particularly interested in the sustainability of laboratory operations for the future.
SAL analyses approximately 1000 nuclear samples by destructive analysis and 700 environmental samples every year.
Inauguration of Hungarian Collaborating Centre
IAEA representatives (Ms. G. Voigt, Dir-NAAL, and Mr. U. Sansone, Unit Head-Chemistry) inaugurated the Hungarian National Food Investigation Institute in Budapest as an IAEA
Collaborating Center for the Production and Characterisation of Matrix Reference Materials.
At the inauguration ceremony held on 24 July 2006, the plaque was handed over to the Head of the Department of Radiochemistry, Dr. Sandor Tarjan, and his team.
This ceremony was also attended by the Director General of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, Dr. Joszef Ronaky, and Dr. Miklos Suth from the Hungarian Ministry
of Agriculture and Regional Development.
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